Dear Battery Park City residents:
At the Battery Park City Authority, we are always exploring ways to better serve and enhance our community. As you know, quality of life and public safety are two of our top priorities. In an effort to keep you informed, we would like to update you on our continued efforts to build upon Battery Park City’s reputation as among the safest communities in New York.
In October, the Battery Park City Authority reached an agreement with AlliedBarton, one of the nation’s largest private-contract security firms, to provide supplemental security service to our community.
This agreement is the product of a public bidding process informed in large part by feedback from and communication with our residents, who expressed their desire to seek a more effective alternative to the service provided by the Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP). As such, the Battery Park City Authority has elected not to renew the contract with PEP, which expires January 31, 2016.
What does this mean for Battery Park City?
– AlliedBarton provides us with a steady roster of Battery Park City Ambassadors who patrol the entirety of Battery Park City on foot and bicycle. The firm has a staff of more than 1,000 in Lower Manhattan alone, ensuring a continuity of service we lacked with PEP.
– The Battery Park City Ambassadors are our eyes and ears, and have the ability to electronically notify our parks operations departments of any hazards they may encounter.
– Each Battery Park City Ambassador provides “electronic breadcrumbs” during the entirety of their tour so their location is always known. This means they are always findable and always accountable.
– Battery Park City remains part of the 1st Precinct command. AlliedBarton and our Battery Park City Ambassadors represent an added layer of service that works in cooperation with our police department.
The benefit of this service was already evident during the blizzard this past weekend, when the Ambassadors were able to keep the ballfields open so residents could play safely until 6 p.m., while keeping people away from areas that were becoming hazardous because of the volume of snow. They were in constant contact with our parks personnel during the entire storm and provided real time, important information that both protected the residents from snow-related hazards and freed up our staff to focus on plowing to keep the streets clear.
We are pleased with what we have seen so far, and hope to continue working with our residents to find innovative ways to enhance our community.
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